HeavyDluxe

Well, that is the question, fundamentally... Whether to save for a new boat (whichever one I wind up getting) or just save for the seat. The last time, I did a fair amount of demoing before settling on the Ride 115. If I was going the 'new boat' route, I'm sure I'd paddle as much as I can to try to decide what boat to get. For example, I think the Predators look really cool. Whether they really are or not is a different deal. Thanks for the reply.

So, a couple year ago I bought a Ride 115 as my first fishing kayak... As a previously boatless angler, having a way to get on the water was amazing by itself. The stability and raw fishability of the Ride made for an exceptional experience. However, the boat wasn't, and isn't, without its issues... For example, the boat is tubby on the water - slow to accelerate and lacking in glide (both of which aren't helped by my large, but slimming, presence in the seat). It's also not the greatest tracking boat in the world. I've been toying with the idea of paying the $300 or so to buy the updated seat (AirPro Max) to give me the high/low option. But, in looking at the seat, I started eyeballing some of the newer boats. Has anyone here moved 'up' from a Ride 115 to one of the updated boats from Wildy (or the Predators or anyone else)? It seems like they've tried to address those two specific problems (speed and tracking) in their new models by tapering the boats differently in the water. I'd love to know whether I should be saving for a new boat or just a new seat. At the rate I'm able to save, I really need to plan for one or the other. PS - I know... "Paddle, paddle, paddle" is better than internet advice. But, the (excellent) local kayak shop closed not long after I bought my boat and I don't know any others nearby who are fishing out of the more modern fishing kayaks. So, I'm starting here and will try to branch out elsewhere.

Strike King and GYCB.

In high summer, I'm leaving plastics still for up to 20-30 seconds between 'twitches' in many cases... I cast out and count somewhat slowly in my head before I do anything.

This is the thread that was most helpful to me when I was getting back into fishing. Even today, I find dead-sticking soft plastics to be the single most consistent technique (in terms of number of bites) in the arsenal. Give yourself some time and the grace to fail a little more before you get too frustrated. But, having said that, try to be really analytical about your experiences. Are you really fishing the baits slow, or does it just feel slow because you're impatient? What thinking is going on as you're choosing an area to fish and what to throw? Is that thinking faulty/improvable? Could it be something as simple as being more stealthy in approaching the area (something I take for granted bank fishing all the time)? Start with a consistent technique for passive fish (drop shotting, dead sticking, slow dragging a jig/texas/carolina) and stick with it until you build some confidence.

Zoom Speed Craw or GYCB Flappin Hog.

I think that statistic, as a national average for all anglers (regardless of skill), sounds about right. Just do the math on how many fish likely see your lure on any given day and choose, for whatever reason, not to bite. Catching a DD bass in any place is a pretty decent achievement. One only needs to watch the reaction of very seasoned and/or professional anglers when they hook anything we'd call "big" to know that's the case. Of course applying some keen, human smarts to the task of hunting big fish will help massage the odds for you. But it still won't make it common or 'normal' (mathematically speaking). If you've been to Vegas enough, you'll eventually see someone make an unusually crazy string of wins at the craps table. That's statistical anomaly that washes out in the big picture, not skill.

Pflueger President... same as the other spinning setups I have.

Yup... So, I pick specific trips to places I know have ample fish and commit to ONLY fish [insert non-confidence bait] there. For example, we're leaving camp here tomorrow after a week on the lake. I fished two baits - jig with trailer and a soft plastic swimbait - the whole week. I know I could've gotten more production with some of the other baits I know, but I needed the chance to practice with these and build confidence.

Bought/built an AR for our first rifle. On a super budget? Buy a S&W MP15 (Sport, I think). Great starter rifle, better guts than the DPMS and other bargain brands. Accurate and reliable. They have a nice .22lr version of the same rifle which is a great option for plinking and practice. Want to know the guts of your gun? Buy a stripped lower from Palmetto State Arms and build it out. You can then do the same with the upper receiver or buy one pre-made. The lower is the only part that requires a background check as it is the actual 'firearm'. You can get a good rifle for cheap here, or add to your price but customize it the way you want. This is what we did. And I have stripped lowers for each of the kids that we will build out for them in time. Want something pre-made that you *need* to bet your life on? Bravo Company or Colt. There are other options, especially in the 'luxury brand' ARs...

Two come to mind... My maternal grandfather (Pop-pop) took 7-year-old me fishing one day. Panfish and catfish in a local pond and its spillway in the morning, lunch at somewhere, then a private little farm pond in the afternoon. Awesome day. The other time, my dad had bought a boat. Twelve-year-old me, with a brand new spinning rod strung with bright yellow, 14lb test Stren (Dad worked for duPont and, "if you can't catch it with 14lb Stren, we don't want it in the boat"), heading out for the first trip. Bottom fishing for dogfish just off the exit of the jetty for the docking area. Hook something, fight it hard for a couple minutes, and then it runs straight at the boat and dives under. I watch the yellow Stren running straight at me and then the rod doubles over and shatters... Of course, the Stren held. Fighting the fish with the bottom half of the rod and handlining from dad (probably more the latter) eventually pulled an 8-9ft sand shark up against the side of the boat. I'll never forget dad laughing at my pleas to 'bring it in the boat'.

Not sparkly-silver enough to be smelt. I agree with the fathead voters.

Topwater, in general, has been among the easiest things to learn... You can see the lure working, so there's immediate, visible feedback. And since the different flavors of topwater are have their own nuances (buzz frog vs hollow-body, pop-r vs spook, etc), I think it's worth just picking one that you think looks like fun and focusing there. The hardest thing about topwater is slowing down your brain enough to resist snatching the bait away after the strike. That heartbeat between toilet-flush and reel-and-set seems like an eternity.

Not to nitpick, but technically losing the fish of a lifetime only hurts once. Every other fish, by definition, would be less-than-the-fish-of-a-lifetime.

So, as I've made abundantly clear elsewhere, my main confidence is in soft plastics. But, I have long wanted to spend more time focusing on jig fishing, and this week's stay on Lake Bomoseen has afforded me that chance. It's also generated a question... For the most part, I'm bank fishing this week. The rocky shallows near the dock at our house gives way so some nice, thick grass flats, and, beyond that, deeper rocks. I've some REALLY nice largemouth on the jig out of the grass - casting out to the weedless depths and dragging/twitching back in. However, I'm obviously mowing the lawn, so to speak, a fair amount of time... And that got me wondering. How do you work a jig through grass in order to minimally snag on the growth? I imagine that, to some degree, there's nothing you can do about it. It's the cost of putting the jig where the fish are. But, if I can learn some trick that will give me even 5-10% more time in the zone without getting wrapped in the growth, I know it will amount to more fish. I seem to recall Glenn posting a video some time ago where he advocated for 'snap-snapping' the jig sharply when it was caught in the grass. So far, that hasn't seemed all that effective here - perhaps due to the longer cast and low angle the line takes to the jig. (And, for the gearheads like me: 3/8oz Siebert Brush jig in his bluegill color with a GYCB Flappin Hog in Green Pumpkin has been the hot bait. I finally broke that off, so I switched to version of the same jig with a craw color skirt. So far, it's slowed down. But, I think that's the bite and not the color.)

GYCB Senkos, Fat Ikas, and Flappin Hog. Use the hog mainly as a jig trailer, though - and I'm happy with any number of craw trailers.

Just chiming in to echo what everyone else has said... Watch the line. 100%. It will jump, go super slack, move left/right, or run away from you when a fish is on. As others have noted, it's not the easiest thing in wind - both due to the inability to see the line for the chop on the water and because the wind bows your line anyway. That said, dead-sticking soft plastics like that (ikas and senkos) is pretty much my go-to fishing method. Funnily enough, I'm at a lake house where we've stayed this week for each of the last 5 or so years. It was here that I learned, via a few posts on the forums, this very technique and practiced for a week. So, I didn't reply to this sooner because, I was on the dock doing it all again. Three smallies, all of which pulled the line straight out (it looked like it started sinking again, but too fast and after it had settled on the bottom) fell for it. Oh, and a good largie on a Siebert jig. Life is good. EDIT: OH! I forgot!! I should add that I fish with spinning gear, so I always have my pointer finger hooked on the line. Sometimes you'll feel the tappitytap there or the line getting tight even if you're not watching. Though you should be watching.

Dunno... But, I can say this: When I fish a weightless senko (always on a 7' MF BPS Tourney Special), I don't feel much resistance from the worm either. However, I fish them on slack-to-semi-slack line, so I feel a little 'bounce' when I give it a little pop to move it.

This guy knows the deal... Great post. I'd add that jig/craws and weightless plastics always turns in a fish or two. That time of the fall is a GREAT time to be fishing up here, IMHO. You'll have amazing scenery and a wonderful fishery to enjoy.

FWIW, I go to a great smallie lake in early August of every year (we leave this Saturday AM, hooray!)... I *kill* them every year on the Yamamoto Fat Ikas - which I discovered on this site and are effectively a solid-poured tube. Fish them sorta like a jig. Weightless and pitched/cast into brush, weed edges, or rocks.

I think this is really good... Though I might add that I'd move to the right of the bottom spot blackshirt highlighted (right above the word 'Pages' on the map) and fish that... It looks like the closest access you have to the deepest water. I've found that dead-sticking soft plastics produces consistently - but the patience to do it well is a hard discipline. It's not the most exciting way to fish... Tonight I went to a similar pond near here and a couple buddies were fishing topwater. They had cooler blowups, but I caught more (and bigger) fish. So, YMMV.

Thanks for the reply. FWIW, I think the unboxing videos isn't "pushing products" and the like... C'mon. We're bass fisherman. Every one of us looks at new baits/rigs/lures and wonder whether they're going to be the secret voodoo that will entice the fish to bite better. (I seem to recall a ton of Ned-Rig-as-Lord-and-Savior posts on here at a time.) Truth is that studies have shown that the younger generation is the MOST skeptical of advertising. So, I'm not sure everyone's rushing out to buy [bait x] just because [youtube fisherman with cool EDM playing in his vids] made an unboxing vid on them. But, I bet there are people starting who find those ideas and labels really helpful. Finally, if the mope sight fishing with senkos is catching fish, I think that's the definition of a good fisherman.

Hey, look... there's good content and bad content, to be sure. But I don't know how any sportsman can see this raft of content from younger outdoorsy people as a bad thing (assuming it's not the disrespectful-to-others, jackass crap). We're under increasing pressure from all sides to see fishing and hunting access curtailed. And there are more and more things competing for our young people's attention. I, for one, am very glad there are some other seemingly decent kids out there catching my kid's attention with fishing and enjoying time with friends more than playing Rokepon Jump or Go or whatever it is. It makes my kids wanna get off their butts and fish with their friends. That's a win, people. More than that, I think you're underestimating some of these anglers. Two things: Youtube has, to a certain degree, made content more 'real'... Because production can happen at the drop of a hat, vloggers will post video of a day they get skunked on the water because, well, people will watch it anyway and they'll head back out tomorrow to just film more. I actually appreciate the honesty of them posting days getting skunked more than I appreciate the highly-glossed, clearly manufactured stuff that passes for most fishing shows. I can't help but think that most of these kids would easily keep pace with us on any body of water... And, honestly, I bet they'd whip most of us. It takes a special kinda stupid to spend that much time on the water and not actually learn to be a better angler. I'm jealous of them, truthfully. In the end, many of these yootoobers have figured out a way to make a living (or at least earn some spending cash or just have fun) doing something they love. There are a whole ton of weekend angler dreamers around here who'd love to do the same. Not all the content is good... but all this content IS good for the sport and sportsman alike, I think.

Sorry for the late reply... Jigs and soft plastic craw imitators (craws, bugs, Ikas, etc) fish near lines that taper into deeper (cooler) water will get you bit with smallies. I honestly haven't caught largemouth in there, though I've heard people say they are in shady spots with timber. YMMV

It's funny, because I went to a BPS today as a belated Father's Day present... And, I must've stood in the stickbait aisle for a full twenty minutes debating this very issue... Do I get the enticingly-inexpensive and outwardly-appealing Stik-Os (especially cheap in the huge packs) or do I get the tried-and-true GYCB Senko? In the end, I opted for the senko... The simple fact is that, in my experience, I get bit more often with the GYCB. The action as they fall is subtly different than the BPS knock-offs. And, I dunno, I just have confidence that this little difference matters. Unless it's a monster, I can get a couple fish per senko, and that's a cheap enough rate that I'm willing to risk it. That said, I still have some BPS Stik-Os leftover from last year that I haven't used. If I start getting bit on them, I'll be a huge convert. EDIT: Related